Veteran educator to be acting head of schools leadership

City public schools have tapped a familiar name as the acting top education official in charge of the system’s leadership, the Daily News has learned.

The newest deputy chancellor, Danika Rux, will take over in the interim for Desmond Blackburn who, among other responsibilities, oversaw local superintendents as they were given more independence over their respective school districts.

The school system will still do a formal search for Blackburn’s permanent replacement, education spokesman Nathaniel Styer confirmed.

Her appointment was made public at an agency women’s history month celebration Tuesday, according to three sources.

The position is also tasked with holding district bosses accountable, including through “hot seat” meetings where superintendents are grilled on their performance.

Most recently, Rux (photo) served as the system’s chief of school support under Blackburn, after her previous role as executive superintendent was eliminated as part of a bureaucratic structure overhaul. Before that, she served as Harlem’s School District 5 superintendent for four years.

Rux’s first job in the city public schools was as an elementary school teacher in 1994, according to her

LinkedIn profile.

Blackburn — whose position was created for him by Schools Chancellor David Banks — stepped down after a year earlier this month to head the education nonprofit Facing History and Ourselves, providing curriculum and resources on racism and anti-Semitism.

The former deputy chancellor oversaw a major bureaucratic reshuffling that had all 45 district superintendents reapply for their jobs.